Only 1 new coronavirus case in Saskatchewan, lowest in nearly 6 weeks

The Saskatchewan government gave an update on new coronavirus cases in the province on Monday.

Health officials said there was one new case in the daily update, with the overall total for the province up slightly to 1,581 since the first case was reported in March.

“We are reporting just one additional case in the province out of more than a thousand tests. This is very positive for our province,” Premier Scott Moe said.

“What you’re doing in this province, it’s working. We have to keep doing it, especially now as we head into the fall with cooler weather and many of us heading indoors. It’s how you will keep yourself safe, it’s how you will keep your friends safe and it’s how we will all keep our families safe.”

New cases haven’t been this low since July 7. On July 22, Saskatchewan reported its highest number of new coronavirus cases in a single day with 60.

Monday’s new case is located in the south-west zone, according to a press release.

Health official said investigations completed thus far have found that 113 of 172 active cases are in “communal living settings.”

“We’ve seen slightly higher numbers over the past few days, but most of these cases have been found through very active and aggressive contact testing and contact tracing. Much of it in our Hutterite communities. There have only been about 10 new cases in the past five days in the remainder of the province and that’s out of many thousands of tests,” Moe said.

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“We are working very hard with our Hutterian communities across the province. And we’re getting to what I believe is a very good place with respect to the access for testing and the aggressive contact tracing that we’re doing. But 113 cases of those 172 are in those communities and 59 are in the remainder of Saskatchewan. So our transmission rate is quite low here in Saskatchewan.”

Provincially, eight people are currently in hospital — four are receiving inpatient care and four are in intensive care.

Twenty-two more people have recovered, bringing total recoveries to 1,387.

There are currently 172 active cases in the province, health officials said. Active cases are total cases less recoveries and deaths.

There have been 22 COVID-19-related deaths in Saskatchewan.

On Aug. 16, 1,043 COVID-19 tests were performed in Saskatchewan.

To date, nearly 123,290 tests have been carried out in the province.

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Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:

Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.

To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus. In some provinces and municipalities across the country, masks or face coverings are now mandatory in indoor public spaces.

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